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By Thomas ErdbrinkTHE NEW YORK TIMES • Wednesday April 17, 2013 8:02 AM

TEHRAN, Iran — Southeastern Iran was hit by the most powerful earthquake to strike the country
in 40 years yesterday, and its reverberations were felt as far away as India. But Iranian officials
said the tremor had originated so deep underground, and in such a sparsely populated area, that it
caused relatively few casualties and only minor damage.

Authorities had initially feared hundreds of deaths from the magnitude 7.8 earthquake but scaled
back their assessment as it became clear that its depth, initially reported to be only about 10
miles beneath the surface, was more than 56 miles beneath.

The earthquake, which struck at 6:44 a.m. Eastern time, was felt in several countries, rocking
buildings in the Indian capital, New Delhi, sending panicked residents of Karachi, Pakistan,
fleeing into the streets and causing tremors through Persian Gulf states.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake’s epicenter was near Khash, Iran, not far from
the border with Pakistan, in the Iranian province of Sistan-Baluchistan.

The province, with vast expanses of unpopulated territory, is home to nearly 2 million people.
Most are concentrated in Zahedan, the provincial capital, and the cities of Saravan and Khash.

The semiofficial Fars News Agency quoted Iran’s seismology center as saying the earthquake was
the worst in 40 years.

But Mohammad Sarvar, head of Iran’s Emergency Medical Service, told the news agency the power of
the earthquake overstated its effects.

“We still do not have an accurate number of casualties, but due to the low population density,
we foresee the number of casualties is not high,” he was quoted as telling Fars.

Other officials said a precautionary state of emergency was declared there.

The only report of fatalities came from the province of Baluchistan, which borders Iran, where
the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan reported five deaths. Tahir Hussain, a lawyer with the
human rights group, said the victims were all in the remote town of Panjgur, 50 miles from the
border.

“A wall collapsed and five people lost their lives, including three children and a woman,” he
said, speaking by phone from Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan.